THE KARATE KID Review

To be honest, I initially had no interest in seeing this new 'Karate Kid'. Not that I am overly attached to the original, but I just felt it too soon to re-make the film and that the reasons it was being made were wrong. And while this is essentially a film poised to launch the career of little fresh prince, it uses the popular film to garner more interest and more ticket sales. It has worked well, obviously people are going to see it, but what I didn't expect was to hear more good than bad about the film. I had to see for myself. And though there is surely much intention with this film beyond simply making a good quality film, it is carefully made and not as bad as a lover of the original might imagine. The story is a second thought here, as soon as young Dre meets his foe in the first half hour of the film we know how everything will end up. What is nioce though is seeing little Jaden have the comic timing of his father as well as demonstrating a young child learning to listen and adapt to something outside of his comfort zone. It is amazing to see Jackie Chan get down to the knitty-gritty of what he does and why he does it. More than anything I thought the film belonged to Jackie Chan. He showed his acting skills as well as his masterful kung-fu. He is truly a treasure and if there is any purpose for this film really existing it is to demonstrate just how precious he is. The complaints are present though and they are in the forms of its length. The film does give its audience a beautiful tour of China, through many locations and lessons about bits of the culture, and it is good to know kids going to see this are learning as they watch, but the film drags at certain points and almost makes you want to fast forward so they will just get to it. The other major question for me was do kids actually fight like this in China? These are 12 year-olds and they are seriously doing some damage to each other. It certainly elicits the response on film, but in reality it is harsh and cruel. Do boys this young really take beatings like the ones portrayed here? Im not sure, but although I wasa bit skeptical at times you have no choice but to go along with it and I won't lie, at the end, I found myself cheering fro Dre to whoop up on that little kid. It was weird in that the film created the sense of a movie I would have watched over and over as a child. I liked it. Probably more than I want to admit.

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